Endoscopes have long been used by physicians to enter into the internal area of a patient in order to carry out function at that location. Traditionally, the endoscope comprises an optical system and an illumination system that enable the physician to locate the distal end of the endoscope in the desired area to enable the physician to view that area at a location external of the patient.
More recently, there has been developed capsule endoscopes which are capsules containing image capture devices, such as digital cameras, that are swallowed by the patient and travel to a location of interest within the patient, such as the intestinal track, to study the colon in a search for lesions. Once at that location, the capsule endoscope gathers captured images to aid the physician to carry out some diagnosis of the patient.
Moreover, scientists have discovered a detectible increase in the blood content of superficial mucous membrane proximate cancerous and precancerous lesions in the colon as described, for example, in R. K. Wali, H. K. Roy, Y. L. Kim, Y. Liu, J. L. Koetsier, D. P. Kunte, M. J. Goldberg, V. Turzhitsky, and V. Backman, Increased Microvascular Blood Content is an Early Event in Colon Carcinogenesis, Gut Vol. 54, 654-660 (2005), which is incorporated by reference herein. This phenomenon is referred to as an early increase in blood supply (EIBS).